Welted footwear



Welt the flesh surface I2 will be substantially flush with the grain surface and will in effect form an inward continuation thereof. The completed Welt thus formed has both its grain and flesh surfaces on the same side, and on the other side has split surfaces which are also suitable for cementing, if desired, or may readily be made so by roughing.

In making a shoe by means of the weltlng shown in Fig. 3, an outsole I4 has a strip of welting attached around its margin with the grain surface of such welting facingupwardly and extending inwardly with respect to the grain surface. The outer grain portion of the welt may be stitch attached to the outsole as illustrated or the under side of the welt may be cemented to the outsole by means of a permanent cement such as pyroxide. If desiredithe fiesh surface .I2` may be roughed after the folding operation, or after attachment of the Welt to the outsole. A lasted upper comprising an insole I5 having an upper I6 lasted thereto in any suitable manner, but preferably with its overturned lasting allowance lying flat against the bottom of the insole, is provided. The lasting allowance may be attached to the insole by cement, staples, stitching, or. any other desired fastening means. A filler I 1. which is preferably in the form of a single dinked outpiece of composition or the like may be positioned on the upper side of the outsole within the inner edges of the welt and lasting allowance, or such filler may be applied to the bottom of the lasted upper prior to assembly with the outsole. The overturned lasting allowance is suitably roughed and coated with cement, and-the flesh surface I2 of the welt is Isimilarly coated 'with cement and roughed when needed. The bottom ofthe lasted upper is then pressed against the cemented surface I2 of the welt in any suitable sole afxing press and the parts kept under pressure until a permanent bond is effected. Pyroxlin cement is preferred for affixing the lasted upper to the welt, but any other suitable permanent cement may be employed. The cement. may be allowed to dry on the welt and shoe bottom, and later activated with a suitable solvent, or it may be applied just before pressing.I

. InFigs. 5to 8l another form of welt construction is illustrated. Here a welt strip I0 having a grain surface I I and a flash surface I2 is provided. VThis may be substantially the same as the strip shown in Fig. 1. This strip is then tapered along its flesh surface so that its inner edge is thicker than its outerv edge and it has a sloping underside I2 which isadapted to be roughed and cemented. Such roughing operation, may be carried out while the welt is in the condition shown in Fig. 6, or it may be effected later at any convenient time prior to the'cementing operation. l

The welt strip-is then slit from its thin outer edge nearly but notentirely to its thicker inner edge along'a` plane parallel with the grain surface II, thus dividing the strip into an upper grain portion and a lower flesh portion attached to each other at I3. The slit is preferably made ata depth corresponding to one-half the thickness of the thicker inner edge so that the point of attachment I3 is about half way up such edge. The lower flesh portion of the welt strip is wedgeshaped in section and isfeathered towards its free edge. This'flesh portion, as shown in Fig. 8, is then folded about its attached edge at I3 until1 the sloping surface I2 faces upwardly in the same direction as the grain surface I I and in effect forms an inward continuation thereof. When such welt is seated against a at surface such as the upper side of a flat outsole the cementable surface I2 slopes downwardly and inwardly and forms a convenient seat for accommodating the bottom of a lasted upper.

A shoe utilizing the welt of Fig. 8 is illustrated in Fig. 9 and may be made substantially in the manner described in connection with Fig.

vv4, except that a round bottom last may be con- 'veniently employed so that the overturned lasting allowance I6 slopes in complementary relation with the surface I2' and affords a more compact fit and permits utilization of a thinner ller I I1.. It is contemplated that by properly proportioning the parts, this filler may even be eliminated. It will be understood that the proportions shown in the drawing are exaggerated for clearness, and are not necessarily like those of the actual shoe.

Another form of cementable welt is shown in Figs. 10 to 13. Here a welt strip IIO, preferably of grain leather stock, is provided. This stock has the thickness vof conventional welting, but is approximately twice as wide. It has a grain surface III and a flesh surface II2.

As shown in Fig. 11, a section I8 is removed from the inner portion of the grain side leaving a thinner section I9 which has a cut or split upper surface 20 which may readily be prepared for the reception of cement.

The removed section I8, as shown in Fig. 12, is then placed under the thin inward extension I9, preferably with its grain surface III facing downwardly and with its cut surface in contact withthe fiesh surface I I2 of the main portion of the welt. These contacting surfaces may be adhesively attached if desired,v or they may simply be pressed into frictional contact in the step about to be described.

The parts of the welt as assembled in Fig. l2 are next squeezed together under considerable pressure by means of opposed rollers or the like so that section I8 is urged forcibly against extended section I9 and distorts the latter upwardly until its uppermost surface 20 is approximately flush with and forms an inward continuation of the original grain surface III. This cementable surface 20 is or may be roughed and coated with cement. The under side of the welt comprises the original flesh surface II2 and the superposed grain surface III, so that the welt is reversible and may be applied to an outer sole with either side up while still affording the desired grain and adjacent cementable surfaces. The welt shown in Fig. 13 is adapted to be utilized in the construction of a shoe substantially in the manner described in connection with Fig. 4, as will be readily understood.

In the forms shown in Figs. 3 and 8 it will be seen that a welt of full width is provided from stock originally having a grain surface only half as wide as the entire welt. Since it is cheaper to provide narrow bands of relatively thick grain leather than to provide wide grain surfaced bands of less thickness, and since the grain surface is only needed at the outer upper side of the welt where it is exposed to view in the completed shoe, the present invention makes it possible to provide relatively inexpensive grain leather welts for use generally in Goodyear, American or other Welt shoes, as well as in the herein particularly described cemented Welt shoe. It accordingly is contemplated that the welts and methods claimed herein are applicable with advantage to various shoes exemplified by the kinds mentioned.

It will be seen that a construction and method have been provided which are well suited to fulll their intended function. Since certain changes in carrying out the above process, and certain modications in the article which embody the invention ymay be made Without departing from its scope, it is intended that al1 matter contained in the above description shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, mightv be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A method of making welts which comprises providing a Welt grain leather strip which is tapered from its inner toward its outer edge,

slitting said welt strip from its thinner outer edge toward but not entirely to its thicker inner edge along a plane substantially parallel with the grain surface of said strip to form a tapered bottom portion, and folding said tapered bottom portion along its attached edge until its original bottom side faces in the same direction as the grain side or said strip, thus forming a welt having a grain surfaced outer section of uniform thickness and a cementable surfaced attenuated inner section adapted to underlie the upper of a lasted shoe.

2. A method of making Welts which comprises providing a grain leather Welt strip having a wedge shaped cross lsection With its thinner edge along the outer side, slitting said strip from the outer edge toward but not to the inner edge along a plane substantially parallel with the grain surface, and folding the under flesh portion of said strip about its attached inner edge until the original under side faces in the same direction as the grain side.

FRIEDRICH HOLLAND. 

